This image from an Amp conceptual video shows a dedicated bus station and car-free lanes in the middle of the street, which a proposed amendment to state legislation would prohibit.

Written by

Michael Cass
| mcass@tennessean.com

State lawmakers believe in local control - except when they believe in controlling the locals.

That would seem to be the message out of the General Assembly last week. Just as a Nashville mass transit project was gaining momentum, House Republicans decided to play engineer for a day and gave the city a little unfriendly design guidance. Around the same time, news emerged that a few GOP legislators had responded bizarrely, maybe frighteningly, to two women's questions about a plan to stop cities from banning guns in local parks.